Poetry of the Sengoku Jidai
by alterfano
Summary: A Collection of InuYasha Poetry written for LJ IYPoems community includes award winners.
1. Atonement

**Atonement**

Though shame does not furrow your brow,

I see it in you.

Scorn and ridicule,

they trail your footsteps,

staining our honor, darkening our name.

Glorious heritage is yours,

dignity your blood's

reward. Yet you toss

them like waste, like a

worthless scrap of history. Insolence!

How dare you abandon Him? Me!

Foresake us! For what?

A short-lived passion?

Dreams that blow through time

like the wind? For this, you dishonor us?

Your effrontery stabs at me,

bleeds on father's grave,

tracks bloody prints through

memories of Him.

In you, his great failure is now my own.

Twists of chance bind us in threads of

unconscious fealty,

ties we slash against

in a vortex of

infighting, dragging us down to disgrace.

Duty demands that I restore

our dignity, but

my pride exacts a

price. I must look down

On your bowed head, accept your atonement.

Then – you shall be free of me.


	2. Forty Seasons Past

_Author's Note: Written for Live Journal IYFicContest. The theme for week 46? "Ten Years in the Future." I don't know if this little thing counts as poetry, since I haven't take a poetry class in over 20 years, and I can't remember that far back. But I'm going to call it that anyway. Don't own characters…_

**Forty Seasons Passed**

The storming pink swirls

blow petals through her hair,

skimming past the shrine,

whisking away all the dreams,

childish dreams, now gone.

The dreams were never hers,

mistress to duty,

caretaker of memory.

Kneeling by the grave,

the young miko tends it,

left behind to weep,

waiting alone for the dead.

Forty seasons passed

since days of blood and flame.

_We die and grief lives._

Time heals some wounds, but not all.

A wind whisper calls

a soft spell from her lips –

_Tell me what you wish._

_Wishes are for fools, Sister._

The blossom trail forms,

like Her footsteps leading

once again to Him,

always to Him, nowhere else.

The spell carries them

floating past field and tree,

over paths well worn

to the glade of memory.

Peace pervades this place

of power, god tree roots

consuming Him now.

Ear to His chest, she listens.

His heart beats. Slow. Strong.

He was terror to her -

flash of white and red.

Lifeless and alive, He hangs,

a life unfinished

in penance for His crime.

Frozen in time, He

waits with the living to die.

How is it fair that

He lives, while Her bones turn

to dust entombed, Her

dreams unknown and unfulfilled?

Maybe killing Him

would close the hopeful wound

that brings her here to

wonder at unfinished dreams.

She comes here to wait,

to witness and to grieve.

As each season turns,

she is called here to duty.

Lifting her voice high

she chants the binding spell

infusing the beads;

but the sealing word must wait.

Forty seasons passed

waiting for when He wakes.

_Then we will kill Him._

_For you, Sister, we wait … for you._

_Author's Other Note: So – do you know who I am?_

_POVKaede_


	3. If Only Award Winner

_Author's Note: Award Winner! - Live Journal IYPoems community challenge for "unrequited love." _

**If Only**

He said maybe. Someday.

When old ghosts were laid to rest –

then we would lie in the sun,

then we would talk of the future.

But Someday never came.

My best friend, who kept me safe -

protected me - left. He left

all of us, melting into myth.

He was seduced by dreams,

dreams of revenge and a wish,

a wish he hoped would free him,

a wish he never got to make.

Now the earth weeps with me,

hiding sunsets in grey fog,

stilling breezes to let the

blossoms fall, heavy, to the ground.

Dreams unlived lie dying

in his grave, wishes unmade.

If only it were my dream.

If only my wish had come true.

_Author's other note: This poem kind of took on a life of its own when it occurred to me that this journey hasn't really been Kagome's quest in a long time. It's really been about InuYasha's desire to destroy Naraku, seek revenge for Kikyou and wish upon the jewel to become a full demon – well, let's hope not. Kagome has had little motive other than helping InuYasha since early on in the manga._


	4. Kagome! Crack

One (very) dark and stormy night,

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

…

InuYasha!

…

InuYasha?

…

…

…

Kagome?

…

…

Sesshoumarou?

…

Kagome!

Sesshoumaru!

Kagome!

Sesshoumaru!

…

Kagome?

…

…

…

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

…

InuYasha?

…

Rats.

…

…

Kagome!

…

…

Kouga?

Kagome!

Kouga?

Kagome!

Kouga?

Kagome!

Kouga!

…

Kagome?

…

…

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

…

…

InuYasha?

…

Damn.

InuYasha!

…

…

…

Kagome.

…

Naraku.

…

Kagome.

Naraku.

Kagome.

…

Kagome?

…

Kagome!

…

…

…

…

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

…

Kagome!

…

Kagome!

…

Shit.

…

…

Kagome!

…

…

Kagome?

InuYasha!

Kagome.

InuYasha?

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

Kagome!

InuYasha!

InuYasha!

InuYasha!

InuYasha!

Kagome!  
...

Kagome?

This silliness was inspired first by my husband mimicking the anime to bug me - and then by this hilarious fanart by Quirkyslayer: http/ 


	5. Victory Suite

_A/N; This poem was written to tie together a "suite" of three one-shots: Victory's Nightmare, Victory's Dream and Victory's Reward, all of which are posted under the title "Victory Suite" at http/ This poem is mine. Don't even think about taking it._

**Victory Suite**

_Battle's end resolves into stillness,_

_declaring time unwelcome._

_Disturbing the veil between worlds,_

_glimpsing the shadowlands beyond,_

_victor and vanquished lie entangled,_

_one's last breath filling the breast of the other._

_A heart beats and the wheel turns again._

_In the chilled light of victory's dawning_

_tendril ties of loss slither_

_forth to bind the strong, yoking them,_

_uncertain, to the wheel of death,_

_its merciless turn pulling them down._

_Yanked by fear, seduced by despair, they waver._

_Their triumph becomes hope in the dark._

_On the first starlit eve of victory,_

_peace settles on weary souls,_

_soothing wounds and seducing the_

_wise to wish on a deathless path._

_But love grinds the wheel of life again,_

_pulling hope along in the wake of anguish._

_Wishes melt into the heart of truth._

_Daylight shines on victory's aftermath,_

_the death and the life laid bare._

_Memory, heartache and hope call_

_the courageous to turn the wheel_

_of fate. Crushed beneath its rim, they weep._

_Finding faith in endless cycles, they believe_

_love will bear the pain of sacrifice._

_© Fano 2006_


	6. The Dungeon

The Dungeon

I cannot move and the

weight of me pulls

into the earth, pressing me down.

So many things I should do,

experiment, explore…

grow, change, move, want…

But the darkness and drain

hold me fast, pinned

to myself and my everchanging body.

Desire sleeps in my heart

and briefly I am free of it,

free of everything but myself.

Even the freedom

does not please me and I

wallow in the arms and legs of my existence.

Tomorrow the sun will come up,

ambition will surge through me

again and I will slither and roll my way back into the world.


	7. Feather's Edge

**Feather's Edge**

_Ane-ue_, her beautiful face shines a light on his heart,

illuminating the horror behind his eyes,

fading reality until nothing remains of him

but the blood on his hands.

Her sorrow bores through him until he is a darkness,

a hole with no beginning and no end,

a void full of the anguish he has wrought.

Her love's light blinds him in an onslaught… of his own memory.

The memories roar inside him and fuse into a heavy weight,

pulling him down into the flood, drowning him in regret

that a thousand lifetimes' service will not redeem.

But in another lifetime he would not remember… would not hear the screams echo.

_Kaze_ bears him aloft, as though she would lift him from the tide,

back to where the memories spawn and breed.

Lying at her feather's edge the air whistles a siren call,

inviting him to let it bear his burden back down into the dark… to silence the screams forever.

He gives himself to fate like a broken wing –

allowing his body into the crushing embrace of gravity.

But the wind itself sweeps through the feather's heart,

blowing her down to catch him… lifting him again… in the prison of his life.

Vertigo settles into his core, misunderstanding

her act of mercy as a sublime cruelty.

She satisfies his plea, "I saved you

so you can save us all."

_Ane-ue_ Sister

_Kaze_ wind


	8. Requiem For Kikyou

**Requiem for Kikyou**

Your broken body lies across me.

In the end you were only human.

I've grieved you for so long,

a tendril of my light remains tangled in yours

as we slip into darkness.

Where your light ends

I will not follow,

and it is your love that does not ask me to.

What I did for you

was not enough – for me.

And so I go on,

in memory of you,

the first echo of my soul.


	9. The Gift of Letting Go

_**Author's Note: **The recent manga arc that ended with chapter 465, left me wanting more of a final resolution between InuYasha, Kagome and Kikyou… so I had to go and write it myself. This poem accompanies a fic I wrote by the same name and can be found at http/ I don't own or profit from Inu & co. Rumiko Takahashi gets all the credit for them. It is my poem, though._

_**Warning:** Hint at spoilers from chapter 465 (character death in manga)._

_**The Gift of Letting Go**_

_The night I let her go_

_was not the night she left._

_Paralyzed against a familiar prison_

_the hollow wound in my heart had to open_

_one last time, had to bleed itself out._

_What fortune I received_

_Was not what I deserved._

_My final release came in the claim of_

_she who remained to fill the void,_

_soothing me, moving me with her love._

_The warm sun that rose when she lay in my arms_

_Was not the cool moon that found me alone._

_Warm and safe, absent the emptiness,_

_a life within me returned to_

_wrap itself in her, the gift of letting go._


	10. Fisted

_**A/N: **Miroku considers his fate._

**Fisted**

At days' end my hand grows tired, bearing the burdens of heroism.

For no matter the strength of my grip,

I cannot protect against myself

without a scrap of cloth and its sheathing spell of will.

Visions of all not yet lost –

promises that may yet be fulfilled –

Hope –

keeps me fisted against the darkness growing inside.

When duty ends and indigo rolls across the sky

'what will be' whispers its inevitability.

Quiet silver light blends into the

shadow of my open palm

obscuring the fabric of my shield,

revealing it as a fragile veil, easily torn.

Weariness –

pulls at me to lift the edge, to follow my soul's way home.

It would be like flying everywhere at once,

becoming everything and nothing,

a billion things and one with all.

A small rip or a large wrinkle

would open me to my darkness, and

in the wind and the rush I would soar.

Freedom –

coaxes me to let go of myself, releasing the weight and worry to eternity.

Moonlight's glimmer invades my eye,

blinking me open to the curve of a woman, her skin calling my hand to touch her.

The loamy wet smells of the night –

the essence of wine still on my tongue –

the deep rumbling sound of a friends' whispered 'good night.'

Life –

grounds me in rich contradiction,

renewing for me the joys that keep my fist closed against the night.


	11. My Wilderness

**My Wilderness**

I see your eyes

as they trace my scars -

feel your sweat,

wet to my touch -

even as it calls my

tongue to taste you.

Awake in the dark

I smell your fear.

I hear it in your heart beat –

too fast for sleep.

_Your heart - need you fear me more than I fear myself?_

I do not feel fear-

only hunger, a deep

primal longing to

fill myself, sating

the emptiness where the

flame would burn.

That which will feed me

cannot lie across my path,

I must seek it, hunt it

until it is mine.

_Your hunger – is it you that screams in my blood?_

I watch you strain…

listening to me prowl you,

inhaling your fear, salivating

for your skin.

Your instinct calls to mine

and you run - the

sharp scent of adrenaline

spiking the trail behind you.

Legs and arms pump past the

shadowed leavings between us.

_You know – is your wilderness different than my own?_

A swipe and a tease

and you are trapped,

retreating before my crawl -

urging me over you,

pulling me down.

Our drums beat in my ears,

pulsing me in you, filling

you with my hunger

until our void cries its release –

and the emptiness is consumed.


	12. The Only Power

_**WARNING**: Spoiler Chapter 470 in the Manga._

_A/N: This poem was written to accompany a fantastic drawing by FooDog __(ht tp // ww w. deviantart . com /devi ation/ 42479861/__/ - w/o spaces) which depicts Sesshoumaru with Rin in his arms when they are in the Meidou (Chapter 470) and he realizes that she is gone._

**The Only Power**

_I freeze._

Her stillness paralyzes me,  
breath no longerbrushing my cheek,  
blood no longerflowing warm beneath my touch.  
Heavy and dark,  
an immutable ache leaches into me -  
a poison - yearning and boiling my  
need to howl  
out a challenge,  
an unanswered call to powers I despise  
for remaining hidden,  
refusing to face my fury.

_Death laughs._

This death is a stranger, one that does not  
keep the comfortable distance,  
but presses close,  
weighting the air from my lungs.  
Our enduring covenant abandoned,  
I feel the betrayer's blade slip skillfully  
around armor and bone,  
slicing a path for black echoes  
bellowing into the dark space  
carved into my heart.  
Mocking and bitter, death beckons me  
to that place  
where pain is irrelevant,  
where I could look down at her body  
and see nothing  
but a casualty of chance.  
I am tempted,  
the way familiar.

_She cries._

One step forward  
to the promise of relief  
and a wall of anguish rises before me –  
crumbling into my soul as I smash at it,  
desperate to move beyond.  
I become trapped in a swelling  
maelstrom of self-loathing,  
swirling the remnants of my pride into  
her sorrowful wails,  
crying out her torment that I would  
forget her so easily.  
Frozen again, the tempest calms and  
our sadness falls  
around me -  
through me -  
shredding me until I, too,  
have become lost.

_I hurt._

My vain attempts at self-protection  
wound us both –  
like a slap at her soul.  
A dishonor.  
Stunned, I allow myself to be  
swept into the void.  
I am powerless to protect us -  
helpless to give life again.  
I am useless.  
My pain is the only power left to me.  
Living with me now,  
it breathes on my cheek –  
flows in the beat of my heart.  
For her memory –  
I will feel it.  
For her honor –  
I will own it.


	13. Kaede's Grief

_**Title**: Kaede's Grief  
**Pairing**: Kaede/Kikyou  
**Rating**: G  
**Summary**: Kaede reflects on her sister's tortured soul, returned to walk the earth. **Disclaimer**: Kikyou and Kaede belong to R. Takahashi. Not me._

**Kaede's Grief**

All things grow and change,  
move and mature,  
live and die.

All things.

What pride keeps you from  
this cycle --  
to defy death

and refuse to live?


	14. 14: The Pounding

**The Pounding**

_ No! You- Impossible…_

Screaming torrents-

terror pounds his

ears. His throat

rips. Between clenched

teeth incoherent noises twist

strangled grief.

_Unfair! Won't let-_

Slamming out of his heart

fury pounds in him,

beating him, driving his

fist into wood-

her helpless captor

splinters under his assault.

_Won't let-_

Crimson stains leak from

his skin as

his victim breaks

beneath his blows,

creaking and groaning

under the weight of his despair.

_Need you-_

The well collapses in-

on itself, billowing

ancient dust into his lungs

to choke him.

until he, too, implodes

upon fragmented remains.

_Please-_

Memory flashes her face

disappearing into black.

thought releases him and

his heart explodes into

the rage of their screams,

blending her into a fading echo.

_This. Can't. Be._

The rhythm of

his pounding becomes

a force, tangible and strong-

a reliable familiar

to count on as emptiness

feasts on his soul.

_Happen. Ing. To. Me._

Numbing pain recedes

in an icy vacuum

until the void itself

reverberates in his chest,

the nothingess inside

clinging to he beat of his blows.

_She. Can't. Be._

Drumming anguish

pounds him beyond

exhaustion,

breaking him

past repair, until

She is-

_Gone._


	15. Shinrai

Shinrai

I'm shelving a fanfic concept I started a while back and as I was getting ready to mentally shelve it for good, I remembered one poem I wrote that I liked and was a standalone. It is about InuYasha's experience through the centuries of waiting for Kagome, as her soul is reborn in and out of his life.

"Shinrai" means Trust.

**Shinrai**

Her arrival in his world once again

bursts on his soul like

the morning scatter of the sun

dappling the forest floor,

calming his tempestuous heart,

flickering before his eyes

as they reflect her golden light.

He revels in her warmth–

hoping to bask in her glow

for more than the fleeting moments of memory–

but he is little more than

the wind in the trees,

feeling her without touching her,

sharing her space –

yet forever distant.

Time itself becomes his enemy,

a jealous lover

tearing her from his brief embrace

and masking its crime as

inevitable –

natural –

as unstoppable as the daily

betrayal of the sun

as it escapes the sky's hold

and slips once more

into the dark.

Time's reluctant familiar,

he wanders after her

soul's absence.

But no forgiveness grants him an end to her

flights beyond the night.

Together and always separate

he trusts in the next dawning,

another cycle,

another chance,

to lose her

all over again.


End file.
